MLB stars want Olympic shot, but 2028 plan has a roster jam
Bryce Harper and Mike Trout back MLB participation in the Los Angeles Games, while scheduling, insurance and labor issues remain unsettled.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Baseball’s biggest names could get their Olympic moment in Los Angeles, but the path to 2028 is already jammed with scheduling headaches, labor friction and a midseason calendar squeeze.
Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper told CBS Sports during All-Star events in Philadelphia that he believes MLB players will take part in the 2028 Summer Olympics. Harper said the Los Angeles setting could help baseball expand its reach internationally and called Olympic exposure a major opportunity for the sport.
Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout also supported the idea, telling CBS Sports that MLB would need a workable format and that participation would be good for sports more broadly.
The interest from players is clear. The dealmaking is not.
The calendar is the first fight
LA28, the organizing committee for the Los Angeles Olympics, has scheduled the Games for July 14 through July 30. According to CBS Sports, the baseball tournament is set for July 13 through July 19, placing it directly in the middle of the MLB season.
That window lands just after the usual All-Star break, which would run July 10 through July 12, and shortly before the trade deadline. CBS Sports reported that the early baseball start, even before the opening ceremony, was designed to make MLB participation easier.
Even so, MLB would likely need to stretch its midseason pause beyond the standard All-Star break to cover the Olympic tournament. That creates problems for teams, broadcasters, travel planning and players who would be asked to jump from club duty to national-team duty and back again.
Bruce Meyer, interim executive director of the MLB Players Association, told CBS Sports that players want to participate, but the union wants travel, lodging and other conditions handled properly. Meyer said discussions are at a very early stage, earlier than the NHL’s talks were during its comparable Olympic negotiations.
The NHL model keeps coming up
Players have pointed to hockey as a possible guide. From 1998 through 2014, the NHL stopped its season for five straight Winter Olympics, building roughly a two-week break into the calendar and tightening parts of the schedule around it.
Baseball brings extra complications. MLB rosters are larger, the regular season is longer, and pitcher usage is harder to bend around a short tournament.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman told CBS Sports that staging the Olympics in the middle of the season would be difficult. He pointed to pitchers missing the All-Star Game because of weekend starts as an example of how tight the schedule already is.
Freeman said he believes baseball should be a global sport, but he questioned how MLB could make the timing work. He also cited injury and fatigue concerns, using the World Baseball Classic as an example of added stress on players who already face spring training, the regular season and the playoffs.
Labor language adds heat
CBS Sports reported that MLB’s latest proposal included mandatory participation for some players. Under that proposal, players who failed to meet the requirement could be put on the restricted list without pay or service time.
The MLBPA has objected to that approach. Meyer told CBS Sports the union viewed the proposed discipline and consequences for players who did not want to participate as extreme, while saying the issue remains under discussion.
Baseball has appeared in the Olympics six times, most recently in Japan in 2021. Professional players were eligible then, but players on MLB 40-man rosters were barred. Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball paused its season for the Games, while Team USA, built with prospects and unsigned veterans including Todd Frazier and David Robertson, won silver.
For 2028, CBS Sports reported that insurance policies and hotel accommodations are still among the unresolved issues. Harper’s pitch is easy to understand: Olympic baseball in Los Angeles would put MLB stars in front of a rare global audience. The hard part is getting the league, the union and the calendar to agree.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS Sports.